Site Records

SiteName: Draycott Cross Colliery & the Cheadle Branch Railway

The southern shafts were never productive and it is doubtful if any coal was ever
extracted. The shafts were quickly abandoned and in 1944 one of them was utilised
by the Staffordshire Potteries Water Board and is still in use today. The other
shaft was capped with concrete.

Photo:One
of the blocked adits in Drayton Cross Colliery Photo by Nick
Catford

Park Hall Colliery closed in 1930 and Draycott
Colliery probably closed in the 1940's. A 1949 Ordnance Survey map shows the line
back to the north portal of the tunnel and the exchange siding are still in place
but the half mile of track into the colliery has been removed. Foxfield
Colliery was the last survivor, finally closing in 1965.

In about 1983
a privately owned drift mine, known as Draycott Cross Colliery commenced production
from adits just inside the southern portal of the old railway tunnel. A new two
foot gauge tramway was laid in the tunnel with mine tubs hauled by cable.

Prior
to 1988 Draycott Cross Mine was owned by the Costain Group. In July 1988 Europa
Minerals bought two Staffordshire Coal Mines from Costain in a £3.3 million cash
and share deal. The mines were Draycott Cross and Acres Nook Collieries. The two
mines were expected to add 1 million tons of extractable coal to the company's
reserves. Europa already owned the Ormondcroft Drift Mine. By 1989 they was hoping
to increase production from 500 tons a week to 1400 tons a week (65,000 tons a
year)

At that time Europa's strategy was to create a balanced mining finance
group with the three coal mining businesses generating the cash to fund their
precious metals exploration activities centred in Western Europe and the US. Europa's
interests included a joint venture with Hecla Mining, exploring for gold in Montana;
a platinum prospect in Bavaria; a joint venture exploration for gold in Alburquerque,
Spain; and a gold concession at the mouth of the Pra River in Ghana. Europa also
has a 22.7 per cent stake in Dana Exploration, an Irish exploration group, which
has interests in Ireland, Ghana and Botswana. Europa's faith in Draycott Cross
was, however, short lived. The colliery closed early in 1991 and the land in the
vicinity of the colliery was sold and the adits were sealed.

In the summer of 1991, a few months after closure
the railway tunnel was still accessible but it has subsequently been sealed and
no further access is possible. There is no external evidence of the mine but when
visited in 1991 although in the tunnel some sections of the narrow gauge track
were still in place together with the cable haulage system and two upturned tubs.
Beyond the adits the abandoned tunnel was deep in mud but could be explored until
the midway point where the roof had come in despite the metal hoops, many of which
are now badly distorted.